Of Heroes and Penguins
by WardenN7
Summary: Sesi is a simple girl with simple tastes: simplicity pretty much described her entire life in the South Pole. But when Katara comes back from a fishing trip with a creepy looking bald kid who claims he's an Airbender, Sesi just knows that her simple life is about to be put on hold. At least she can still harass Sokka.
1. Beginnings

**A/N: Hello, lovely people of FanFiction! Here is the first chapter of my new story! Any and all constructive criticism is welcome, as I'm still fairly new at writing. This chapter was also edited by myself, and since I'm no master editor it still isn't exactly the best. Anywho, I hope you enjoy the first chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Avatar: The Last Airbender_. It solely belongs to Bryke (unfortunately).**

"Um, Sesi, are you sure this is a good idea?" a little boy asked, tugging on the sleeve of the older girl next to him.

"Of course I am, Nanuq. What's with the hesitant tone?" the girl, Sesi, replied, sparing the boy a glance before quickly averting her eyes to their original destination.

"Well, um, it's just- You see, I'm not entirely sure..."

"Nanuq, spit it out!" Sesi barked, her eyes still trained on the wobbling figures in the distance, her eyes lit up with anticipation.

Nanuq flinched before responding quickly, "_I really don't think we should be trying to catch penguins when we're supposed to be doing chores!_" He said all of this quickly, his voice raising a couple octaves from a mixture of nervousness and frustration.

"...Excuse me?"

Nanuq lowered his eyes to the snowy ground, as if he was shamed. He knew what would happen when he suggested this, for it was not the first time he had done it, and he knew it made the older girl frustrated when he did. Catching otter-penguins was, after all, her favorite pastime. All traces of irritation were now gone as he replied, "Kanna and my mom won't be happy if they find out we've been wasting all our time out here; _especially _when we have chores to do."

"You worry too much, kiddo. Besides, the benefits far outweigh the risks in this situation, don't you think?" Sesi questioned lazily, eying Nanuq suspiciously.

"Not exactly. I mean, the last time you made me do this, we got caught and were stuck with washing all the clothes for two months! We didn't even manage to catch a penguin, either!"

"Hey, the only reason we were caught is because Sokka's a dirty little snitch, so blame him and not me!" Sesi replied angrily, hands clenching in anger. Nanuq could feel waves of anger rolling off of her. She immediately closed her eyes, took three calming breaths, and her hands became loose once again. As she opened her eyes, she caught Nanuq's worried gaze and quickly bumped her shoulder with his. "Anyways, you shouldn't be complaining about that. Katara helped us out with all the washing, remember?"

Nanuq giggled and bumped her shoulder back, a wide, lop-sided smile covering his tiny face. It wasn't often that Sesi showed these random bouts of affection, and even when she did it was mostly directed towards the girl in question. "But didn't you beg for Katara to help us?" he asked.

Sesi shrugged. "Only because I didn't want either you or me to touch Sokka's clothes. The risk of catching his stupidity was too high for my liking."

"You know," Nanuq began with a small roll of his eyes, "I'm not sure why you hate him so much. He's really funny."

"There's more to a person than being funny, and that's pretty much what Sokka's entire identity depends on," Sesi deadpanned. She sighed and slowly stood up before offering a hand to the boy beside her. "I'm done with discussing this. Come on, it's about time we head back, you little worry-wart."

Nanuq stared at her with disbelieving eyes. "You just said you didn't want to go back, like, five minutes ago! We haven't even caught a penguin yet!"

"And you said you did!" she retorted, "You should consider yourself lucky that I'm actually doing what you want. I usually don't take orders from my sidekicks," she continued haughtily, ignoring the stab of anger in her gut at the mention of the penguins. She rolled her eyes when he didn't respond, and, with a quick flick of her wrist, a small stream of water smacked him in the face.

He blinked, momentarily stunned, before quickly wiping the water away with a growl. When he looked up again, ready to scold Sesi yet again about using her waterbending at inappropriate times, he saw her running ahead of him, a good couple yards away with her head thrown back, cackling with laughter.

He fought off his own strong urge to laugh before running after her.

* * *

The run back to the village was, overall, pretty fun. Nanuq managed to catch up to her a couple of times, but she still beat him in the end. Naturally.

Of course, the little boy threatened her by saying he would tell Kanna of her constant sneaking out, and of her 'inappropriate use of waterbending', but she wasn't too bothered by it. It wouldn't be the first time the ten-year-old had threatened her, and he wasn't very confrontational to begin with. The odds of him actually going through with it weren't very high.

While Nanuq was a good kid, and she showed him much more kindness than she did most of the people in the village, her competitive nature would not simply allow her to go on without a bit of gloating on her part. It probably didn't help that teasing Nanuq was one of the few things she did for fun (along with attempting to catch penguins, doing whatever crazy shenanigan that had sparked Katara's interest, and thoroughly harassing Sokka).

She led Nanuq back to his small house, ruffling his hair as a silent goodbye, and began the trek down to her own tent, albeit at a rather slow pace. It had housed both her father and herself at one point, but as her father, along with the rest of the men, had left to help fight the war, she now lived there by herself. It was hard to imagine how that was almost three years ago.

_I wonder if Dad's okay..._

In a way, it was all rather depressing, but she really didn't have much room to complain. Living by herself was preferable to living in a tent with three practically grown people in it, as was demonstrated by Katara. Sometimes, Sesi wondered how Katara could live in that igloo with Sokka and his nasty socks. She imagined it... and quickly threw the thought away, shuddering.

At the thought of Katara, Sesi's mind began to wander. Her friend was with Sokka on a fishing trip. Sesi normally joined these trips as well – mainly to keep Katara company so she wouldn't be thoroughly poisoned by Sokka's idiocy by the time she got back – but Kanna had informed them that Katara and Sokka would be going alone during this trip. While Katara and Sesi had vehemently protested this, Kanna insisted that the two siblings needed some bonding time.

Finally, after a couple of minutes of continued protest, Kanna threatened them with dish washing duty for the rest of the year. Both her and Katara had been successfully shut up.

_Tricky old woman_.

Sesi had to commend her, though. She was kind, and she loved her grandchildren more than anything. She had even acted as a parental figure to Sesi herself, which she would forever appreciate from the old woman, but a part of her had yearned for her own parental figure as well. She knew that the old woman was Katara and Sokka's grandmother first, and everyone else would come second. It was probably the thing she admired most about her, to be honest.

She only wished she could have someone like that for herself.

She would've continued her train of thought on how much she liked Kanna (who had insisted that Sesi call her 'gran-gran', even though Sesi continually refused), but the sound of her own name broke her thoughts. She turned around and saw the old woman herself beckoning her, a rather irritated look on her face, and she knew at once that Nanuq had finally followed through with his threat: Kanna was not happy with her skipping chores to catch penguins.

_Darn it all_, Sesi thought, dragging her feet towards the old woman as slowly as possible. Nanuq was gonna throw this in her face later on. And probably stomp on it for good measure.

_But still, at least the kid's starting to grow some guts._

**A/N: There it is! Yes, Sesi is a Waterbender, and I hope that doesn't make anyone hate the story right off the bat. She certainly won't be any better than Katara is right now; as you can probably tell, she's a bit lazy.  
**

**Thanks for reading! And if you wouldn't mind, please leave a review of what you think?**


	2. Cautious

**A/N: Well, hello there! Here is the second chapter, as promised! The chapter was edited by myself, and considering how I'm _not_ a professional editor, it's probably not the best. Feel free to leave any constructive criticism, however! If anything looks like it could be fixed, then I am more than happy to hear your opinions!  
**

**Also, a quick, super-special thanks to the people kind enough to review and follow this story! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own _Avatar: The Last Airbender_. It solely belongs to Bryke.**

The dishes were being difficult. More specifically, this one bowl in particular was being difficult.

Of course this really shouldn't have surprised her. Her and this bowl went _way, way_ back, since she was about ten. You see, she was washing dishes with her dad – he was scrubbing and she was drying – when she accidentally dropped the bowl. She freaked out, but her dad just laughed it off, saying that he would help her fix it.

Now when she washed the dishes, she could tell which bowl was the one she broke. It was easily recognizable with its cracks in various places; she was actually rather proud of how they had fixed it. But now, anytime she washed the bowl, it just wouldn't get clean. She could scrub and scrub and scrub _all day long_, but she could never get the bowl completely clean.

About now would be the time where Katara would come to her rescue. She would just mosey on in, see how hard of a time Sesi was having, then she would generously take the bowl away from her and get it looking immaculate in under five seconds. It was unreasonable, but it always seemed to work.

Except Katara wasn't here. Sesi knew fishing trips could take a long time, but not _this _long. Kanna didn't _seem_ worried about her grandchildren's delayed return, but she couldn't be completely sure. It was always hard to read the old woman and today was no exception. She just went on with her daily business as usual, the stoic expression never leaving her wrinkled face.

Sesi wished she could be like that. It was true that she didn't show much emotion towards most of the people in her tribe, but on the rare moments when she did, it was plain as day. She was terrible at hiding what she was feeling. Heck, the only person she would ever freely show her emotions to was Katara.

So there she was, washing an un-washable bowl while freaking out on the inside because _where the heck could they be now?!_

After a couple more minutes of unsuccessful washing, she set the bowl down with the rest of the clean dishes (she would apologize to Kanna for it later), and stalked out of the room. Her hands twitched, and she resisted the urge to run them through her ponytail, a nervous habit of hers. One that Katara could easily recognize, if she were here.

At the thought of her friend, she went straight towards Kanna's tent. She passed Nanuq on the way, who sent her a cocky little grin – _I knew he'd throw it in my face _– but steadily ignored him. Right as she was about to enter, a different hand entirely opened it from the other side.

Kanna stood at the entrance of the tent, her face as stoic as usual. The old woman stood there for a bit, staring at her. Sesi tried to make her face as blank as possible, but Kanna was too clever for that.

"You're worried about Katara and Sokka, aren't you?"

Sesi tried her best to hide her stunned look and failed miserably. There was no point in trying to lie to her. "Well, yes. Kind of. I mean, more about Katara than Sokka, really, but him too, I guess. Still, they've been gone for a really long time and I'm not sure if that's normal – I really don't think it is – and I was thinking that we should maybe go look for them, please?"

Kanna continued her probing stare. Sesi felt her hands twitch again. The action did not go unnoticed by Kanna, her eyes quickly darting towards Sesi's hands then straight back to her face. Slowly, hesitantly, she grabbed Sesi's hands with hers, steadying them. She felt Kanna give her hands a light squeeze. Sesi flinched and jerked her hands out of Kanna's, placing them back by their sides, where they continued their earlier twitching.

Kanna did not seem bothered nor hurt by this, but she couldn't really tell for sure. She placed her hands back to her sides as well before saying, "They will be alright, dear."

"How can you be sure, though?" Sesi questioned, ignoring the term 'dear' and how affectionate it sounded (in her mind, at least). After her rambling session, and the small hand-holding moment that came afterward, she tried her best to reign her emotions back in. She still couldn't hide the small amount on urgency in her tone when she said, "The day's almost over. They should have been back by now."

"As I said before, they'll be fine. As long as they have each other, they will always be alright. You should put more faith in your friends, dear."

"_I_ have _plenty _of faith in Katara," Sesi scoffed, offended.

Kanna didn't look like she believed her, and Sesi couldn't necessarily blame her. It sounded like a weak response even in her own ears. Still, she knew Kanna did not blame her. She knew why Sesi worried about Katara, knew that she was afraid of her leaving.

Leaving, and never coming back. _Just like_-

_No, don't think of that_._ It won't change anything_. _It won't _help _anything._

Regardless, she was still ready to say something in her defense, even if Kanna didn't believe her. She opened her mouth, a flurry of excuses just waiting to be told, but a woman interrupted them before Sesi could say anything. She came to them, speaking mostly to Kanna (though she did spare Sesi a small glance) before saying the words Sesi had wanted to hear most for the past two hours.

"Katara and Sokka are back," then, after a moment's hesitation, "with a small boy, on a gigantic monster."

* * *

It turns out that the women – Sesi hadn't bothered to ask for her name – wasn't lying. When she and Kanna went to investigate the woman's claims, they came upon a rather... disturbing sight.

The most noticeable thing was the gigantic, fluffy monster. _Ugh, how contradicting_. It was the biggest animal she had ever seen, and many of the children, even Nanuq, were staring at it in awe-stricken wonder.

Then, there on the ground, was Katara. Sesi felt her body relax at the sight of her, then felt it stiffen right back up when she saw the boy she was holding. He wore orange and yellow robes, and his head was completely bald. On closer inspection, she saw that the boy had tattoos, as well; they looked like arrows and started at his forehead, then continued down the rest of his body. Sokka was standing over them, looking generally unhappy, as usual. Sesi drew silent comfort from this. With all the weirdness that was going on, at least Sokka had it in him to act his normally unpleasant self.

When they finally approached, Katara looked up. She looked at Sesi, gave her a tired smile, then looked towards her grandmother. Right as Kanna was about to speak, Katara interrupted, "Grandmother, please, I promise that Sokka and I will answer all your questions. Just... let me take Aang to the tent. He needs rest."

Kanna glanced at the boy – Aang – then at Katara. At the sight of her granddaughter's earnest face, she nodded, albeit a bit hesitantly, and Katara began to pick up Aang. She turned towards Sokka, probably to ask for help, but Sesi went over and picked the small boy up instead. She evenly distributed his weight between the two of them before saying quickly, "Let's go."

Katara seemed shocked that Sesi would willingly help her care for this stranger – she would later comment on how alike both Sesi and Sokka were sometimes – but beamed at her nonetheless. Sesi tried to return the smile as best she could, but she was sure it turned out as more of a grimace.

They continued the trek to the tent in silence. When they got inside, Katara and Sesi gently set the boy down on some blankets. Katara proceeded to take his shirt off. Sesi's frown deepened.

"Why'd you take his shirt off?"

Katara seemed flustered at her bluntness. Sesi restrained the urge to smirk.

"Well, Sokka doesn't sleep with a shirt on! I just thought..." she trailed off, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

"Relax," Sesi said, "I was just teasing you." She turned her gaze to the boy. "So... I leave you alone with Sokka for one fishing trip, and you end up bringing back a creepy looking bald kid. What's with that?"

"He's not creepy!" Katara chastised, "He's special. I know he is!" She turned to Sesi, her eyes alight with joy. She began to tell the surprisingly short tale of how she and Sokka had found Aang and his animal guide, Appa, in the iceberg, including all the small details that Sesi didn't really care about. Katara continued her rant, not noticing the frown marring Sesi's features.

"Sesi, he's an Airbender! Can you believe it? We thought all the Airbenders were gone, but now..." she trailed off, her smile wider and more joyful than Sesi had ever remembered it.

_But the Fire Nation killed all the Airbenders, _the ever cautious voice in her head spoke_._ _How are you sure you can trust him? _Sesi couldn't help but agree with it. "Are you sure we can trust him?" she questioned, gazing at the small boy suspiciously.

"Of course I am! Aang's good, I can tell. He wouldn't sell us out to the Fire Nation!"

Sesi scoffed, "You just met this kid, what? A few hours ago? Katara-"

"You sound just like Sokka, Sesi! Why can't you just believe there are good people out there?! Not everyone's like the Fire Nation!" she snapped, glaring at Sesi in anger.

"Don't be so loud," Sesi hissed, meeting Katara's glare with one of her own. "Look, I know you want to believe that this kid is the Avatar, and that he'll 'stop the war' and all that other junk, but we have to look at this realistically. It's not-"

Their conversation was cut short by another figure entering the tent. Sokka looked at the two glaring girls in confusion before saying, "Gran-Gran wants all of us out here. Says she wants to know how we found Aang."

"Okay," Katara sighed, standing up before grudgingly offering a hand to the black-haired girl beside her. A peace agreement, if Sesi ever saw one.

"Katara just told me everything," Sesi explained to Sokka, ignoring Katara's proffered hand and the small look of hurt that came afterward. Sesi exited the tent and, with a lazy wave, said, "I'm going to bed now. See you guys in the morning."

She was a couple of feet away from the siblings before she came to a sudden halt, hesitating. She called out Katara's name. The dark-skinned girl turned around, a questioning look on her face. "I – well, I just..." she stuttered before growling out quickly, "Don't _ever_ be that late again. I swear, you're main goal in life is to try and kill me or something, isn't it?"

Katara gave Sesi her special smile, the one that's gentle and knowing and beautiful all at the same time, and Sesi found that she felt better than she did a few minutes earlier. "I won't," Katara assured her. A teasing smile came to her lips. "What about Sokka here? Were you worried about him?"

"Hardly," Sesi replied, not skipping a beat. "I daresay we would've been better off without him, actually."

Sokka looked offended and all too ready to hurl an insult right back, but Sesi turned her back on him before he could. She bade them goodnight one last time before heading off to go to sleep.

Yeah, sleep sounded good.

* * *

Sesi was awakened by a light tapping on her shoulder. Her eyes opened, and she blearily saw the figure of Nanuq looking down at her. She didn't hesitate to roll over on her other side, closing her eyes again and swatting away his tiny hands.

"Sesi, wake up! Katara wants you to meet the new boy!"

"Tell her I'm not interested."

"Aww, why not? Aren't you interested in seeing him?!"

"Not particularly. Didn't I just say that?"

There were a few moments of suspicious silence. Sesi smiled and snuggled into her blankets, content.

"If you come with me to meet him I'll go catch penguins with you when you want."

Now _that_ had caught her attention. She rolled over on her other side and opened one eye, searching him.

"You serious?"

"Have I ever lied to you before?"

"I don't know. Have you?"

"No. You'd probably beat me up if I did."

"Good observation. I'm up!" she exclaimed, rising from her thick blankets, looking much more awake than she did mere moments ago.

It took a few minutes for her to get ready. She brushed her black hair and put it into its normal ponytail, then went to the small bowl of water and splashing her face a few times. When she finished and left her tent, stretching, she saw Nanuq outside, tapping his foot impatiently on the snow-covered ground.

"Let's get this over with," she said. Nanuq cheered and grabbed her hand, leading the way to the center of the village.

"I hope you don't expect me to act nice to this kid," she informed him as they got nearer to the center of the village. Nanuq didn't seem to hear her. _Huh, seems like everyone's interested in him._

That was an understatement. _Everyone_ was here to see this foreign stranger. The children looked up at the odd-looking boy with childish wonder, and their mothers were looking at him suspiciously, including Nanuq's. Katara stood next to the boy and Sokka stood off to the side near their tent, sharpening his boomerang and looking more broody than usual.

They got there just as the boy asked uncomfortably, "Uh, why are they all looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?"

"Nah, you're just naturally weird-looking," Sesi replied to the boy's unanswered question. He whipped around towards the new voice, shocked at her blatant rudeness, then became even more uncomfortable at her blank, uncaring stare.

"Oh, Aang, this is my friend, Sesi. Sesi, this is Aang!" Katara interjected quickly, trying to dispel the awkwardness of the situation. It didn't do much. Aang continued to stare at Sesi in uncomfortable silence, and Sesi seemed more than content to stare at him right back.

Thankfully, Kanna valiantly stepped forward to break the awkward silence. "No one has seen an Airbender in a hundred years," she began, then continued with, "we thought they were all extinct, until my granddaughter and grandson found you."

"Extinct?" Aang said, shocked.

"Aang, this is my grandmother," Katara said, gesturing towards the old woman.

"Call me gran-gran," Kanna added, stoic as ever. Sesi fought the urge to laugh.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Sokka popped up, snatching the wooden stick from Aang's hands.

"What is this, a weapon? You can't _stab _anything with this!"

"It's not for stabbing!" Aang said, then, with a little wrist movement, the staff came whizzing back to his hand. "It's for Airbending." Then, without warning, the staff became a glider. Sokka gasped, quickly covering his head with his hands.

"Don't be such a girl, Sokka," Sesi advised, smirking at the glare he gave her. Even if she didn't approve of this kid, she had to admit that it was a bit cool.

"Magic trick!" a little girl giggled. "Do it again!"

"Not magic," he explained, moving the glider in various ways, "Airbending! It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly."

"You know, last time I checked, humans can't fly!" Sokka said testily. Sesi could see Katara and Nanuq glare at his constant interruptions.

"Yeah? Well check again!" Aang said, and without warning he leaped from the ground and flew, doing little loops and fancy turns in the sky. Sesi noticed that all the all the villagers, even the suspicious mothers, were watching in fascination. Sesi rolled her eyes.

"He's flying! It-it's amazing!" Nanuq whispered, squeezing Sesi's hand in excitement. Sesi, unwillingly, felt her disapproval diminish a little at Nanuq's whispered joy.

_Darn it_.

Katara was smiling broadly at Aang. She turned to Sesi and, if possible, her smile became a little wider. She could tell that Sesi was, at least, a _bit_ impressed. Sesi rolled her eyes and a split second later, Aang crashed into Sokka's watchtower.

"_My... watchtower_," Sokka whispered, horrified. Nanuq giggled.

Katara wasted no time in running towards Aang, helping him up. The village trailed behind.

"That was amazing!" Katara exclaimed. Sokka ran to his beloved watchtower and packed more snow on it in the hopes of keeping it intact, but Aang retracted his glider from it and a large pile of snow landed on him instead.

"_Great!_" Sokka growled, annoyed. "You're an Airbender, and Katara and Sesi are Waterbenders. Together you can just waste time _all day long_."

"Excuse me?" Sesi snapped, rounding on Sokka quickly. "I don't waste my time with Waterbending!"

"Yeah, you're right. All _you _do with your time is try to catch your own pet penguin. Why couldn't I see how much more productive that was?" he said, sarcasm lining every inch of his tone.

"You're a Waterbender?" Aang interrupted, staring at Katara in a mixture of shock and admiration. He did not seem comfortable enough to discuss Sesi yet.

"Well, sort of," Katara trailed off. "Not yet."

Kanna quickly interjected herself into the conversation, "All right, no more playing. Come on, Katara, Sesi, it's time to do your chores."

"I'm telling you, he's the real thing, gran-gran!" Katara said excitedly as they made their way back to the tents.

"Try not to put all your hopes in this boy, Katara," Kanna warned. Sesi rolled her eyes.

"Good luck having her listen to you," Sesi drawled, "I told her the same thing and she got angry at me."

"But he's special! I can tell!" Katara insisted, ignoring Sesi. "I sense he's filled with _much_ wisdom."

The three of them, as if on cue, simultaneously turned their heads around to look at him. He was surrounded by a crowd of kids – Sesi was sure she saw Nanuq's messy head of hair in there somewhere – with his tongue stuck to his staff. He proceeded to say something that made one of the kids roughly tug on it. A round of hearty applause ensued when his tongue did not budge.

"Oh, yeah," Sesi drawled sarcastically, "I can just _feel_ the wisdom rolling off of him."

Katara rolled her eyes before grabbing Sesi's hand and dragging her towards a pile of dirty clothes waiting to be washed, all the while chattering on and on about _Aang this _and _Aang that. _Sesi dutifully ignored her. It wasn't until she heard the words 'penguin' and 'sledding' in the same sentence that she perked up, giving Katara her full attention.

Katara gave her a knowing smile before muttering something that oddly sounded like 'you and your weird penguin obsession'.

**A/N: Review? It would make me super-duper happy to hear what you guys think!**


	3. Don't Go

**A/N: Well, would you look at that. It's the third chapter! I meant to put this up a couple of days ago, buy my internet was going cray. Sorry about that.**

**Like always, this chapter was edited by myself, and since I'm still a newbie at writing (and editing, for that matter), this chapter will probably have mistakes. If you can point said mistakes to me, I will greatly appreciate it.**

**Also, a quick thanks to my five story followers: mcgonagiggles, crystalessences, algebra123230, TheAlleyCat18 and Digi-fanCapp. You guys help me gain the enthusiasm to write!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Avatar: The Last Airbender_. I do, however, own my OC's. **

"Now men, it's important that you show no fear when you face a Firebender," Sokka instructed sternly, holding his club out for his students to see. "For in the Water Tribe, we fight to the last man standing! For without courage, how can we call ourselves men?" he clutched his fist to emphasize the word "men" and looked down at the people in front of him.

Seven little boys were sitting across from him: Six of them looked uninterested while the seventh one – Nanuq – looked on earnestly, soaking in Sokka's words with an enthusiastic grin. One of the six raised his hand, waving it in the air. "I gotta pee!"

"Listen! Until your fathers return from the war, they're counting on _you_ to be the men of this tribe, and that means _no potty breaks_!" Sokka snapped, making wide arm gestures to emphasize his words again. Regardless, his speech didn't seem to do much, the little boy insisting that he 'really had to go'.

Sokka sighed, defeated. "Okay, who else has to go?"

Every other child raised his hand, including Nanuq, although he had an apologetic expression on his face. Sokka looked surprised, then face-palmed himself in frustration.

"Sorry, Sokka! I tried to hold it in as long as I could!" Nanuq apologized before running off with the other boys to do their business.

Sesi, who came due to Nanuq's request, had watched from the sidelines so as to not disturb the lesson. She grimaced and walked over to Sokka. "That didn't turn out so well, did it?"

Sokka turned to face the girl angrily. "It's not my fault they won't listen to me!" he snapped. "What are you even doing here, anyway? Don't you have chores to do or something?"

"Whoa, calm down," Sesi appealed, trying her best to not snap back at him. "I didn't say it was a bad lesson, did I? Nanuq enjoyed it; that's got to count for something," she said. "Besides, I finished my chores early today."

Sokka frowned at the black-haired girl, unsure. He only now realized that she didn't comment on the lesson with mocking sarcasm, but more as just a simple statement. That didn't matter, though. You could never be entirely sure with Sesi. "You... _didn't_ think it was a bad lesson?" he questioned skeptically.

"Well, I'll agree that you're not exactly the most _experienced_ instructor," Sesi admitted, her voice lacking the usual mocking tone it held when she was around him, "but what you're teaching them is still good, I think. Their mothers must think so too, I mean, they keep letting them come back, don't they?" she rubbed her lower lip in thought. She did not seem to notice Sokka's incredulous stare, or her momentary lapse of kindness towards him.

"Sokka!" a voice called. He turned around and saw Katara quickly running towards him, and out of the corner of his eye Sesi was still staring off into the distance thoughtfully, confusion gracing her face. Sokka frowned. While Sesi didn't purposefully insult him, he still couldn't help feeling a _bit_ offended that she was now pondering the reasons of why the kid's mothers would let them join his lessons.

"Sokka, have you seen Aang? Gran-Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago," Katara questioned as she reached her brother and friend. At the mention of the Airbender's name, Sesi spun around to face Katara. Her face now looked as it normally did; blank and uncaring. Her eyes, however, held a bit of coldness in them at the thought of Katara's new friend.

Katara noticed Sesi's sudden change of emotions and silently prepared herself for the barrage of mean comments that were normally directed toward Aang. She felt a little surprised when they didn't come, but she was also glad for it; she didn't like fighting with Sesi, but she would be more than willing to defend Aang if it came down to that.

Katara's question was answered for her when Aang appeared from the outhouse, pulling his pants up a bit as he walked out. He appeared to be highly amused. "Wow! _Everything_ freezes in there!" he pointed back to the outhouse happily, a smile on his face while he laughed. The rest of Sokka's "soldiers" stopped what they were doing and began to laugh with him.

Sokka made an odd noise that Sesi associated with anger and pointed at Aang angrily, saying, "Katara, get him out of here! This lesson is for warrior's only!"

The Water Tribe Trio turned around and saw the children now playing with Aang, using Appa's tail as a makeshift slide, although it was pointed upwards so they would be propelled into the air. Sokka's spear lay on the ground, serving as a hurdle the kids were attempting to jump. One of the boys landed headfirst into the snow and Katara giggled. Sokka, however, quickly rushed over to the group of playing children. Sesi stared on in confusion, muttering, "How in the world did they get there so fast?"

"Stop it! Stop it now!" Sokka yelled angrily. The kid's laughs came to a sudden halt as Sokka turned to Aang accusingly. "What's wrong with you?! We don't have time for fun and games with the war going on!" Sokka grabbed his spear from the ground and frowned disapprovingly at the laughing children as they ran past. Only Nanuq seemed heavily affected by Sokka's anger and didn't laugh with the rest of the children as they ran away.

Aang smoothly slid from Appa's head to the ground. "What war? What are you talking about?" Sesi felt her eyes widen a fraction with shock. How could this kid _not_ know about the war?

Sokka seemed to feel the same way. "You're kidding, right?" he asked, raising his eyebrow in disbelief.

Aang looked at Sokka questioningly, but his confusion didn't last long. His expression quickly morphed into excitement as he yelled out with loud enthusiasim, "_PENGUIN!_"

Sesi spun on her heel and was quick to notice the small animal. It was startled by Aang's loud yell and began to quickly waddle away in panic. Right as Sesi was about to chase it Aang darted past her, enhancing his speed with Airbending so he could keep up with the small animal. Sesi growled unpleasantly at his unfair advantage.

Katara and Sokka glanced at each other. "He's kidding, right?" Sokka questioned again. Katara didn't seem to know how to answer and instead decided to follow Sesi, who was now a couple feet ahead of them, following Aang's footsteps in the snow, looking just as determined as the Airbender to catch a penguin for herself.

Katara shook her head at both her friend's antics, wondering silently what was so great about penguins.

* * *

When Katara arrived she found Sesi and Aang surrounded by otter-penguins, although neither seemed able to catch one. For a moment, Katara thought that they were getting along and trying to catch penguins together. It didn't take long for her to notice that anytime Aang got anywhere near Sesi, she would scoot away to a different place, scowling at him in mistrust.

After their first meeting, Aang questioned Katara on why her friend was so mean to him. Katara quickly comforted the boy, telling him that Sesi just didn't like strangers and that she would warm up to him soon enough. Aang seemed happy enough at Katara's explanation and since then had continued to pester the girl with offerings of friendship.

Sesi did not appreciate this and every time had refused his offers, but Aang persisted, even now as the two of them continued to try to catch penguins. The seemingly endless cycle was rather frustrating.

Katara hated to see her best friend at odds with her new friend; however, she was glad that Aang didn't hold any hard feelings towards Sesi and the cold behavior she displayed towards him. She only wished that Sesi would get along with Aang, though she knew it wasn't likely. It would take time for Sesi to accept Aang, to realize that he wasn't a threat, but Katara was sure the kind Airbender would succeed in making Sesi his friend.

Katara called out to her two friends, Sesi looking up immediately at the sound of her name. She walked toward Katara, momentarily abandoning the penguins, and both of them watched as Aang tried to snatch one of the penguins; Katara with a fond smile gracing her features and Sesi with a suspicious frown marring her's. Aang missed the penguin completely and belly-flopped on the ground.

Aang laughed and quickly erected himself with Airbending. "I have a way with animals," he raised his arms and flapped them, making squawking noises that were supposed to be a poor imitation of the penguins. Katara raised a hand to her mouth and giggled. Sesi raised a brow with obvious disinterest when the young Airbender glanced at her hopefully.

"Aang," Katara laughed, "_I'll _help _you_ catch a penguin if you teach Sesi and I Waterbending."

"You've gotta deal!" Aang replied, "Except, there's just one little problem. I'm an Airbender, not a Waterbender. Isn't there someone in your tribe who can teach you?"

"No," Katara said, forlorn. "You're looking at the last Waterbenders of the South Pole."

Aang frowned and muttered, "This isn't right. A Waterbender needs to master water." He looked around in thought before turning back to Katara. "What about the North Pole? There's another Water Tribe up there, right? Maybe they have Waterbenders who could teach the both of you!"

Sesi frowned in distaste. Going to the North Pole didn't sit well with her for many reasons. Aang noticed the frown and sent her a questioning look, but she merely turned her head away, muttering, "We haven't had contact with our sister tribe in a long time." Aang's frown deepened.

"Sesi's right," Katara said, effectively drawing Aang's attention back to her. "It's not exactly turn right at the second glacier, you know. It's on the other side of the world!"

"But you forgot, _I_ have a flying bison," Aang countered, pointing to himself happily. "Appa and I can personally fly the both of you to the North Pole! Katara, Sesi, we're going to find the two of you a master!"

"I thought that thing couldn't fly," Sesi interjected, staring at Aang quizzically.

"Appa's just tired. He needs plenty of rest before we can get moving. He might even be able to go today!"

"I don't know," Katara said, unsure. "That's... I mean, I don't know. I've never left home before."

"Well, you think about it. The both of you," he said, glancing between Katara and Sesi before resting his eyes on Katara once again. "In the meantime though, can you teach me how to catch one of these penguins?"

Katara conceded and mockingly bowed her head, saying, "Okay, listen closely, my young pupil. Catching penguins is an ancient and sacred art." She quickly conjured a fish out of her sleeve and tossed it to Aang. "Observe!"

The boy looked on in confusion before a group of penguins began swarming him. Aang laughed in delight as the penguins pulled him down among them, all searching for the tiny fish to eat.

"You know, you shouldn't have let him in on that," Sesi said with a disappointed frown. "It's more fun when you learn these things on your own."

"Yeah, yeah," Katara grinned at Sesi teasingly. "You just wish penguins liked you as much as they do my protégé and I."

Sesi scoffed. "Please, spare me. Everything you ever learned about penguins you learned from _me_. Besides, it's more fun trying to catch them without the fish. Provides more of a challenge."

Katara rolled her eyes. "The way you talk about it makes it seem like it could be a sport."

Sesi gasped suddenly, beaming at Katara enthusiastically. "That's a _great_ idea, Katara! How come I never thought of that? A sport! Maybe I should talk about it with Nanuq..."

"Got one!" Aang popped up, a penguin by his side. "And I am more than ready for some penguin sledding!"

"Great!" Katara said, turning to Sesi to ask if she was ready too. However, the black-haired girl was walking away, luring a lone penguin towards her with a fish while heading towards the village, a wide smile covering her face as the penguin followed along, clueless.

"I thought fish didn't offer enough of a challenge for you!" Katara called out mockingly. Sesi looked up from the penguin, scowled at Katara, then waved her comment away, muttering something about being excited to show Nanuq her first pet penguin.

* * *

Nanuq, as Sesi had imagined, was just as excited as she was when he saw the penguin.

It took Sesi a little while to lead it back to the village. Sometimes the penguin would get distracted and veer off in another direction, and Sesi had to use the fish to lure it back towards her. This happened more than once, but Sesi stayed calm and controlled.

She _refused _to let this penguin get away from her like all the other ones.

Somehow – Sesi assumed it must have been luck – Nanuq happened to be close by when she arrived at the edges of the village. _He's taking watch,_ Sesi realized when she noticed him scan the outskirts of the village. She tried her best not to laugh, but couldn't help the few chuckles that escaped her. He must have been trying to make up for earlier during his warrior lesson, attempting to worm his way back into Sokka's good graces. Sesi couldn't exactly blame him. Sokka took warrior training seriously, and was quick to hold a grudge against those who weren't as interested in it as they probably should have been.

"_Psst! Nanuq!_"

Nanuq gasped in fright and whirled his head around towards the oddly-familiar voice. He frowned as he looked at Sesi, who was smiling one of the biggest smiles Nanuq had ever seen from her, attempting to hide something behind her back. It looked pretty big.

"Sesi?" he questioned, looking at the girl in confusion. "You scared me. What are you doing here? I thought you were with Katara and Aang."

Somehow, Sesi's beaming smile became much more brighter. Nanuq felt blinded; he was not used to this much emotion from her. "I was, but I came back here because I have _the greatest_ news to tell you!" she squirmed around in excitement, and a tiny flipper slipped past her body. She quickly tried to hide it.

It was too late. Nanuq had already seen, and he felt his eyes widen with shock. "Sesi – I – ...is that a penguin?" he asked weakly, pointing a finger towards the flipper that was repeatedly smacking Sesi's leg. She smacked it's flipper back and turned to Nanuq excitedly.

"Yeah! Isn't this great?! I lured it towards the village with a piece of fish!"

"_What?!_ B-but you always say that using the fish is cheating!"

"Well," Sesi coughed uncomfortably, "I _do_ think it's cheating, and if I ever hear that you used a fish to catch one I will personally come and punish you myself. But..." she trailed off, turning her face away from him quickly to hide her embarrassed blush.

"But... what?" he asked, looking at her face questioningly. "Why's your face so red?"

"It's not red, stupid!" Sesi snapped, though she deflated quickly. "Sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I – well, you see – I just-"

"Sesi, spit it out!" he repeated, using their conversation from yesterday.

Sesi gave him a dirty look at the use of her own words before grumbling out, "I just wanted you to see our new pet penguin."

"_Our_ new pet penguin?" he questioned, eying her suspiciously. "Are you sure you're the real Sesi? The _real_ Sesi would never dream of sharing her first pet penguin with _anyone_. Not even Katara."

"Yeah, well, I figured you deserved it," Sesi replied. "You've been really patient about the whole penguin thing, and I know I've forced you along for a while now; heck, I'm not even sure if you like hunting penguins with me! But still, I-"

Her rambling was cut off by Nanuq hugging her. She stiffened immediately and tried her best to hide her discomfort; she didn't want to hurt his feelings. She patted his head uncomfortably when she was ready for him to let go. Sesi was glad he got the message as he pulled away, though he had a huge grin covering most of his face.

"You know, Sesi, you're the best. Really."

"Of course I am," she cleared her throat in an attempt to dispel the rest of her awkwardness. "I'm me."

Nanuq nodded in agreement, then gave her a questioning look.

"Um, Sesi? How did you keep the penguin with you this entire time? I would've thought he'd run away when I hugged you."

"Oh," Sesi replied, pointing towards her leg where the penguin was still slapping. "I took, like, five pieces of fish from Katara, and this guy's a stubborn little one. Refuses to leave until he gets the rest of them. Not that I'm complaining, though; it makes my life much more easier."

Nanuq chuckled in agreement. "Come on, let's go show Sokka. I'm sure he'll be impressed!"

* * *

Sokka, it turns out, was not impressed by their new pet penguin.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. _Wait_. What do you _mean_ you're not impressed by our new pet penguin?"

"Well, it _means_ that I'm not impressed by your new pet penguin. Not entirely sure how else I can word that to make you understand."

"That's not the point, Sokka! I've spent years trying to get a penguin to come close to this village. _Years, Sokka!_ And when I finally manage to bring one here, you're not even mildly impressed?!"

"No."

Sesi glared at Sokka heatedly. He raised his hands in the air, signaling that he was innocent. But he wasn't innocent. Not really.

_How could he _not_ care about this?_

"Look," Sokka heaved a large sigh, as if he was about to tell a story he's told a million times already to a bunch of rambunctious kids. Which, technically, he kind of was. "I've never been into this whole penguin thing. At least, not like you and Katara and Nanuq – even though I'm not sure if Katara even likes it as much as you do. It doesn't mean that much to me. Besides, how are we supposed to take care of it?"

"It's name is not 'it', Sokka. It's name is Kaskow," Sesi replied firmly, Nanuq following her lead. She squeezed her penguin lovingly and gave Sokka a questioning look. "What do you mean? We'll take care of it like anyone would take care of any penguin."

"Oh, okay. Sure thing. So tell me, Sesi, how do people normally take care of penguins? Hmm?"

"Pshh... you know..."

"You have no idea how to take care of this penguin, do you?"

"Don't judge me, I didn't think this far ahead! I never thought I would actually be able to capture one!"

Sokka rolled his eyes. "Sesi, we can't keep the penguin. That's final."

Sesi gasped. "Why not?"

"It's not like we have an over-abundance of food, you know. We need to feed the rest of the tribe before we even think about feeding a penguin."

"Sesi," Nanuq added, tugging on the sleeve of her shirt. "I think Sokka's right. We can always catch another penguin another time!"

Sesi seemed ready to argue, but hesitated. She _knew_ what she had to do, of course. She couldn't even imagine how disappointed her dad would be in her if she chose a penguin over her own tribe. But still...

No. She knew the right choice. She couldn't choose the penguin, not when she could so easily manage to see her Dad's disappointed gaze staring down at her.

"Fine," Sesi said dejectedly, accepting defeat. "We won't keep him."

"We can just catch another one, Sesi!" Nanuq said, attempting to cheer her up. Sesi reluctantly let go of the penguin and watched it scurry away.

"It won't be the same. No other penguin will be like Kaskow; his eyes, his face shape, his personality, his-"

"Alright, we get it! You're sad you couldn't keep your first penguin. There's no need to mope over it. What's done is done," Sokka replied firmly, looking away from Sesi's disappointed face. For a moment he considered comforting her, but decided against it: Sesi wouldn't appreciate any form of comfort he would try to give her.

"Sesi," Nanuq whispered softly, taking a hold of her hand. He was pleasantly surprised when she didn't shake him off. "Come on. It's time to go."

"Okay, okay," Sesi said, standing up slowly and casting Sokka a dirty look, as if this was his fault. She began her walk to the village; she didn't squeeze Nanuq's hand back, but she didn't rip her hand away from his, either. "You're right. We can catch penguins some other time. Let's just-"

_BANG!_

Sesi, Sokka and Nanuq spun around toward the source of the sound. There, far in the distance, a bright light appeared out of nowhere. It stayed in the sky for a few moments, then slowly faded away.

"What was that?" Nanuq questioned softly, a hint of fear in his voice.

Sokka stared off into the distance. A look of realization dawned on him, and he growled. "I have a pretty good idea of what that was." He stalked towards the center of the village, anger obvious in every step he took.

"Come on," Sesi said quietly, and when Nanuq looked up at her, her face was blank once again, no longer holding it's previous joy. He thought he saw a spark of something in her eyes, but it left just as quickly as it came. "Let's hurry back. Your mother will want to see you."

The walk back to the village was tense: Sokka was brimming with anger and Sesi seemed indifferent to everything (although her body was tensed up, and her grip on Nanuq's hand was much too tight for his liking). He would try and muster up the courage to ask them what happened, but one look at Sokka's face seemed to stop the words from coming.

When they arrived at the center of the village, Nanuq's mother hurried over and brought her son to her side, thanking Sesi for bringing him back to her. Sesi nodded in acknowledgment, then turned to face Kanna. The old woman was speaking to Sokka in low tones, her face grim. When they finished, Kanna began walking to the outer edges of the village, Sokka trailing behind her. Sesi maneuvered herself to the front of the group and walked with them.

The rest of the village were slowly trailing behind, frightened. The mother's were whispering to each other quickly and softly, so their children wouldn't hear their theories and become upset. It didn't seem to matter though; the tense atmosphere was enough to make the kids look anxious.

They waited for a few minutes. The silence was almost too much to bear. It felt like some of the longest moments of Sesi's life, and she found it hard to believe that half an hour ago she was arguing with Sokka whether she could keep a penguin. That problem seemed so miniscule compared to now.

Two figures appeared, jogging quickly towards the village. When Sesi recognized one of the figures to be Katara she gasped quietly and began to move forward to her friend. She felt a hand on her shoulder, stopping her, and looked back. Kanna shook her head at Sesi, silently telling her to stay where she was.

The village kids saw Aang walking with Katara and gasped happily. One of them cheered, "Yay! Aang's back!" That seemed to spur the rest of the kids into action, and they crowded around Aang, greeting him joyfully. Aang returned their greeting's, a smile on his face.

Sokka broke free from the rest of the villagers, and Sesi quickly walked with him, ignoring Kanna's hand on her shoulder.

"I knew it!" Sokka said angrily. "You signaled the Fire Navy with that flare! You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?"

"Aang didn't do _anything_! It was an accident," Katara protested.

"Yeah," Aang said sheepishly, rubbing his head uncomfortably as Katara glared at Sokka. "We were on this ship and there was this booby trap, and well... we boobied right into it."

Sesi's eyes widened as she stared at Katara. "You went on the ship?!" Katara almost seemed to look ashamed, but stood strong.

"Katara," Kanna began worriedly, "you shouldn't have gone on that ship! Now we could _all_ be in danger!"

Aang quickly jumped to Katara's defense. "Don't blame Katara. I brought her there. It's my fault."

"Aha! The traitor confesses! Warriors, away from the enemy," Sokka ordered. The children sadly walked away from Aang. Sokka paused a moment, then said with a tone of finality, "The foreigner is banished from our village!"

"Sokka, you're making a mistake," Katara clenched her fists, irritated at her brother for not understanding.

"No," Sokka persisted, "I'm keeping my promise to Dad. I'm protecting you from threats like him!" he pointed to Aang.

"Aang is not our enemy!" Katara insisted angrily. She took a moment to calm herself, then continued, "Don't you see? Aang's brought us something we haven't had in a long time: fun."

"_Fun?_" Sokka's rage was fueled by Katara's words. "We can't fight Firebenders with fun!"

"You should try it sometime!" Aang chanted back optimistically. Sesi, who was standing beside Sokka as she gazed at Katara, seemed to snap at the Airbender's idiotic statement.

"Shut it, Airhead! You have _no idea_ what it's like to have Firebenders attack you!"

"Sesi!" Katara snapped, glaring at her friend. Sesi returned the glare ten-fold.

"Get out of our village!" Sokka demanded. "Now!"

Katara tried her luck out on Kanna. "Grandmother, _please_. Don't let Sokka do this!"

"Katara, you _knew_ going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka's right. I think it would be best if the Airbender left."

"Fine!" Katara said, outraged. "Then I'm banished, too! Come on Aang, we're leaving!" She grabbed the Airbender's hand and dragged him away. Sesi felt like the world had just slipped out from under her feet.

"Leaving?" she questioned weakly, staring after Katara. She felt her head begin to spin unpleasantly as she swayed on her feet.

"Sesi," Kanna whispered urgently, taking the young Waterbender's hand in her own to steady her. "Sesi, calm down. Katara won't leave."

Sesi shook her head mutely, continuing to stare after Katara as she walked away with Aang. He seemed happy. She thought she heard Sokka say something, but she couldn't be quite sure what it was; she found that it was rather hard to hear anything, really. She shook her head again when Kanna kept asking her to say something.

_No. Not again. Don't go._

"Come on, Sesi," Kanna began. She handed her over to Nanuq's mother and she led her away from the villagers. Good. Sesi was beginning to feel crowded. There were too many people around, and not the one person she wanted. No, that person was leaving.

_Not her, too. Please, don't go._

Nanuq's mother – Sela, or something like that – sat her down near their tent. She rubbed Sesi's hair soothingly in an attempt to comfort her and began to whisper in her ear.

"Shh, don't worry, Sesi. Katara's staying. She's not going anywhere. It's okay, darling."

_Katara... is staying? No, she couldn't be. She said she was leaving. Leaving with Aang. Where would she go, though? She'd probably go to the North Pole and find a master. Why would she come back to this no-good little village? What would she possibly come back for? _

She managed to hear Sokka yelling for his warriors. Nanuq left them with a worried glance and joined the rest of the children.

"Sela?" a soft voice said. The voice felt familiar, comforting. _Good job, Sesi. You remembered her name. Dad would be proud, if he were here._ "It's okay. I'll take over here. It's okay, really."

A soft hand took hold of Sesi's. She felt a thumb rub against her palm. The comforting figure spoke.

"Sesi, come on. It's okay. I'm sorry. I'm not gonna leave you, I promise."

_Oh, Katara. You're back. You're not leaving? Kanna was right. I should have known. She's always right. Please don't sound so sad. Why could you come back?_

Slowly, thanks to the voice and it's warmth, Sesi came to. She saw Katara, although her vision was a bit bleary. "Not ever?" she asked softly, tiredly.

"Not ever." Katara affirmed, gently squeezing her hands again.

"That's... good." she whispered, and the bleary figure of Katara became harder to look at. She felt tired. More tired than she had felt in a long time. She yawned and leaned her forehead on Katara's shoulder.

"Katara, I'm tired."

"I know you are. Come on, let's go lay you down. You need rest." she supported Sesi and the two of them began to slowly walk back to Sesi's tent. Katara lied her down gently, then plopped down next to her. She sighed sadly.

"Kitty-Kat, are you okay? Please don't sound so sad." Sesi's eyes began to close, and she felt another wave of drowsiness hit her. Katara chuckled softly at the sound of her old child-hood nickname and squeezed Sesi's hand again.

"I'm okay, Sesi. Just go to sleep, okay?"

"Okay."

As Sesi's breaths finally evened out, and Katara was sure she had fallen asleep, she gently maneuvered her hand out of Sesi's and stood up, looking down at her anxiously. Sesi stirred, but did not wake up. Katara walked out of the tent and toward her own, where she knew Sokka and her Grandmother would be waiting.

Katara could have sworn, as she walked out of the entrance of Sesi's tent, that she heard a soft voice, reminiscent to that of a desperate child's, plead, "Don't go."


End file.
